Artist Trisha Orr paints herself out of a corner

Trisha Orr’s complex, tour de forces of fabric, objects, and flowers have earned high critical praise for many years. They are beautifully rendered, dispassionate works, and they reveal very little about the artist except that she is technically gifted and admires beauty. Growing up in a demanding family and going to art school in the […]

ARTS Pick: Gillian Welch

Berklee educated rocker turned Americana heroine Gillian Welch found the same grittiness she loved about punk in the earnest sorrow of old time Appalachian music. In collaboration with her longtime musical partner David Rawlings, Welch has become known for celebrating the sound of country and bluegrass roots, while imbuing her original songs with dark personality […]

Renaissance man Todd Snider brings his circus to town

Just seconds into my conversation with Todd Snider, he’s telling me about some LSD that was “going around the neighborhood” a few months back. The next moment, he’s on to a story about dodging fruit hurled by Jimmy Buffett. He then deadpans that if young musicians come to him asking for career advice, “they’ve already […]

Jesse Winchester spent his final years in Charlottesville

The world lost a gift to music with the passing of Jesse Winchester  on April 11 in Charlottesville. According to his website,  the legendary singer songwriter ” died peacefully in his sleep, at home, after fighting bladder cancer.” The soft-spoken country star may have been averse to thrusting himself into the public eye, but his […]

Britain’s hot new singer-songwriter strides across the U.S.

Dan Croll could be on the verge of something big. And he knows it. The 23-year-old British singer-songwriter touched down in California at the start of April for his first U.S. headlining tour, and the crowds are growing by the show. By the time Croll hits The Southern Café and Music Hall on April 23, […]

A once-in-a-lifetime evening of experimental cinema at the Bridge

It’s been almost a year since Vinegar Hill Theatre closed its doors, and we’re still months away from the promised renaissance of the Violet Crown Cinemas, so it’s hard to know where to watch a movie in Charlottesville these days. I’m talking about a movie that’s neither mainstream nor blockbuster; one that experiments with and […]

ARTS Pick: A Band Called Death

Three years before the Ramones launched their iconic schtick, a trio of brothers started the first American proto-punk band in Detroit. They wrote short, fast songs with driving rhythms and lyrics about politics, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll, and of course, existential crises. Their pure originality and aggressiveness made them a hard sell commercially in the […]

Album reviews: The Wood and the Wild, Dinah Thorpe, The Dirty Guv’nahs

The Wood and the Wild The Wood and the Wild/self-released Singer-songwriter Jon Perry is spot-on when he refers to this debut recording as “supernatural cinematic folk.” Part concept record, part proverbial soundtrack to your life, the album manages to amble along with a sense of purpose. The opening track, “Loveless Traveler/Belles on the Tye,” encapsulates […]

ARTS Pick: The Zombies

As part of the first wave British invasion, The Zombies found American pop success in the darkly melodic “She’s Not There,” and disbanded in 1968, moments before “Time of the Season” topped the charts. After pursuing rewarding solo careers, the founding members have recently regrouped and made a new album Breathe Out, Breathe In, which […]

Film review: Kevin Costner plays ball with the NFL

What’s with all the Kevin Costner movies lately? In the past 12 months he’s appeared in Man of Steel, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, and 3 Days to Kill. Given the quality of these movies, maybe he should have stayed semi-retired. It’s not like the movies he made beforehand were much better, but at least his […]